One Of Brooklyn's Oldest Arts Groups Needs $150K For Renovations

GOWANUS, BROOKLYN — A dance organization that has been in the neighborhood for more than 40 years is asking for help raising $150,000 to renovate a new studio on Butler Street.

Spoke the Hub Dancing, which first opened in Park Slope in 1979, is partnering with Koko NYC, a kids program run by Open Source Gallery, to open a new dance and art studio called the Gowanus Arts Annex.

But the new studio, at 298 Butler St., needs extensive renovations before it can house the nonprofits, Spoke the Hub founder Elise Long said. Long started a GoFundMe to raise the $150,000 needed for the upgrades.

"This new Brooklyn arts center will house two of Brooklyn's oldest, finest and most innovative not-for-profit community dance and arts organizations, in addition to the studios of artist Ben Lai," Long writes. "[We] are asking you — all our friends, colleagues, neighbors, fellow artists and extended family members, both near and far, to help support this urban art-barn-raising effort and contribute what you can."

(GoFundMe).

The donations will help pay back a $150,000 loan the organizations got from an anonymous contributor to get the renovations started. The loan will need to be paid back within a year, Long said.

The renovations will include demolition, adding a new storefront, putting in a dance floor, adding a bathroom and upgrading the electric and plumbing systems. The studio will also be made compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

(GoFundMe).

Those who donate can take home different packages of Spoke the Hub swag, including postcards, t-shirts or ceramic tiles on an "Angel Wall," the GoFundMe says.

The Arts Annex is set to open this month with four weekends of workshops, performances, dance parties and happy hours, Long said. The organizations will celebrate the new studio and the fall season with a Gowanus Oktoberfest.

Spoke the Hub has taught thousands of students of all ages since first opening on Union Street in 1979. The organization provides year-round classes, performances, summer youth camps, rehearsals and scholarships or work-study programs.

Koko NYC is the youth Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) branch of Open Source Gallery, a nonprofit arts organization.

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